Why Rayman Legends is getting a remake, instead of an older game

What goes into deciding when a video game is due for a remake? As players, it can feel a little random from time to time. Did Horizon Zero Dawn really need a remaster seven years after its release? You might be asking that same question right about now about Rayman Legends Retold. The project is a total reimagining of 2013’s Rayman Legends, a perfectly modern platformer by today’s standards. If you’re going to revive the long-dormant Rayman series, why start with its most readily available and playable game?

That was a complex bit of calculus for Ubisoft. In an interview with Polygon ahead of Retold’s reveal, brand manager Loïc Gounon explained exactly why the team chose to remake Legends rather than the series’ very first game. It came down to multiple factors that make more sense from a developer's standpoint than the player's.

Image: Ubisoft

Rumblings about a new Rayman game started springing up in 2024. The rumor mill was churning so much that Ubisoft outright confirmed that a Rayman project was in an “exploration phase” at its Milan and Montpellier studios, with series creator Michel Ancel consulting. That exploration wasn’t just about remaking Legends, but rather starting a “new era” for the series at large.

“As we started a new era for Rayman, there would be new games,” Gounon told Polygon. “We really want to relaunch the franchise for good. So we discussed altogether internally: What would be the best way to bring back the franchise? Not just what best game to make, but what's the best way to remake the franchise? So to expand the audience, to reconnect with the fans, and to start a new adventure basically.”

The team wanted the series to have a new tone and 3D art direction, whatever it was. More important, though, was that this new take on the franchise had to reach a very high quality bar. That’s not exactly the easiest thing to achieve when you’re working within a specific timeframe and need to deliver something great within those constraints.

“What can we do within a certain timing that could be qualitative, manage to please part of our fans, hopefully also introduce the franchise to a new audience?” Gounon said. “That's why it led us naturally to Legends, because of how complete it is as a game. It's the richest version of the world, the widest set of characters. And as we wanted to relaunch a brand, we felt we didn't want Rayman 1. We want Rayman plus Globox, plus Grand Minimus, plus Barbara, plus Bubble Dreamer as a narrator. That's how it led us to that proposition of Rayman Legends Retold.”

Image: Ubisoft

It’s a sound decision from a business standpoint. Take the most modern game in the series that still plays great, then get it rebuilt in Ubisoft’s proprietary Snowdrop engine. That would allow the teams at Ubisoft Milan and Montpellier to focus on updating the art style and bringing in brand-new content. Still, it’s a bit of an odd choice considering that Legends is the fifth game in a series whose other entries aren’t easily accessible. If the goal was to bring in new players, why not at least remake 2011’s Rayman Origins to create a smoother onboarding ramp for new fans? The team ultimately felt that approach would have been a little redundant.

“Origins is already a very ambitious reinvention of Rayman 1, sort of, where Legends was more the next thing with Rayman,” Gounon said. “The more modern version of Rayman, in terms of worldbuilding and the characters, was Legends. Also, Legends has bigger issues we think we could solve. For example, the navigation with the gallery of paintings was a bit on the weaker side. The ending of the story was a bit disjointed. The ending of Origins was actually better; the ending of Legends was not that great. Even though it's an amazing game with lots of qualities, we know what could have been better.”

The golden edge of platformers was the early PS2 days

That philosophy tracks in Rayman Legends Retold. It’s not a simple remake, but a substantial reimagining that brings more depth to the platformer’s story. There’s even a new final world to tie things off stronger and 3D Dragon Ride levels that explain how Rayman gets between all the various worlds. It’s more robust from a presentation standpoint, turning a collection of fun levels into an animated movie with a story you can actually follow.

There’s an even more practical explanation for the project, one that reflects a reality of video game development. Gounon noted that the team that made the original Rayman games isn’t really around anymore. Some have left Ubisoft entirely, while others are actively working on Beyond Good and Evil 2. For Ubisoft, a remake is a good reason to get a new team together and get them up to speed with a classic series, before they start working on an original game.

“I think of Capcom with similar strategies,” Gounon said, citing examples of studios that use remakes as a jumping-off point for something new. “Reinventing true remakes, and maybe even using part of that for their new games. Even Nintendo! If you look at Nintendo, the way they rotate the team: Sometimes a team can get trained with a spinoff to get to the new big thing. I think we need to think that way. There's a cycle of all developers that are still there; some new ones that will learn the franchise. A remake, even if it's an ambitious remake, is a good way to get to learn the IP, and know what a good Rayman game is.”

Image: Ubisoft

And Gounon is committed to making good Rayman games. He cited Super Mario Bros. Wonder as an example of a bar-raising platformer that came out in between the original Legends and Retold. He wants the Rayman series to keep up with innovative games like that, rather than lag behind. At the same time, he also holds the genre’s history in high regard. Just because Rayman is moving forward doesn’t mean that Ubisoft shouldn’t be looking backwards for inspiration.

“To me, the golden age of platformers was the early PS2 days with Rayman 2, Jak and Daxter, Mario 64. I think we’ve never reached such ambition in the platforming genre than we had at the time. And looking back, we think there is potential to do even more ambitious platformers in the future.”

Rayman Legends Retold launches on Oct. 1 for Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 5, Windows PC, and Xbox Series X.

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Rayman Legends Retold features a new world, 3D levels, and music by Grant Kirkhope